Virat Kohli registered his highest impact performance in T20 cricket as India beat Pakistan by five wickets in a low-scoring match at Mirpur on Saturday (27th February). The Pakistani bowlers made a fist of the match with some genuine fast and swing bowling after their batsmen had let them down getting bundled for a paltry 83. India lost Rohit Sharma of the second ball of their innings without a run on the board. Kohli came out to bat at 0 for 1 and looked at ease (amidst some hostile Pakistani bowling) even while wickets kept falling at the other end (2 for 2, 8 for 3). He absorbed pressure (off falling wickets) and continued to score at a rate much higher than the match norm. His contribution (49 in 51 balls) which was almost 58% of India’s chase in a low-scoring match (the second-highest score in the match was Sarfraz Ahmed’s 25) along with a high Pressure Impact and Strike Rate Impact (scoring runs at a rate higher than the match norm), meant that his overall impact in the match was very high.

Kohli was, not surprisingly then, the highest impact batsman and player of the match.

Mohammad Amir, who looked in devastating form with the new ball (and picked up all the three initial Indian wickets to fall) was the highest impact bowler of the match (3-18 in 4 overs).

Sarfraz Ahmed, however, was Pakistan’s highest impact player and the second-highest impact player of the match. He came out to bat at 35 for 4 and top-scored for Pakistan with 25 in 24 deliveries absorbing pressure (of falling wickets) throughout his innings.

Hardik Pandya was the most restrictive bowler of the match conceding just 8 runs in 3.3 overs. He also picked up three wickets (two lower order wickets) which made him India’s highest impact bowler in the match.

Yuvraj Singh was the third-highest impact player of the match. He picked up the crucial wicket of Umar Akmal giving away 11 runs in his two overs. Although his 14 off 32 deliveries was rather patchy, the fact that he came out to bat at 8 for 3 (under pressure) and remaining unbeaten in the chase gave him a high impact.

Only 5 Pakistani players registered a Match Impact of at least 1 (the minimum for a performance to not be labelled as a failure) – which meant that more than half their team failed in the match.